Periodic Reporting for period 4 - SPIDI (Star-Planet-Inner Disk Interactions (SPIDI): unveiling the formation and evolution of inner planetary systems)
Período documentado: 2022-07-01 hasta 2023-12-31
SPIDI's goal is to probe the existence of inner planets at the time they form in the inner circumstellar disk of stars over a timescale of a few million years. This requires to develop numerical simulations of star-planet-disk interactions and predict what observable signatures nascent planets would offer to astronomers. Going to the telescope, the goal is then to attempt to detect those signatures and constrain the properties of proto-planets. This, we hope to better understand the origin of our own Solar System and other planetary systems that are now known to be ubiquitous in the Galaxy.
MHD and radiative transfer code development and numerical computations have started on supercomputers. In parallel, several international observing campaigns have been performed on specific targets using the largest telescopes (e.g. ESO/VLTI). The numerical simulations are running, the datasets are ready. Within a few months, the numerical and observational approaches will converge and provide the first constraints on inner nascent planets in young stellar systems.
This is the first time star-disk-planet interaction are computed in numerical models and their observational signatures predicted. It is also the first time that multiple observational approaches have been combined simultaneously (interferometry, spectropolarimetry, space photometry) to scrutinize young stellar systems. These unique advances ought to provide the best route towards the detection of inner planets still in the process of formation.